It is known in the prior art to mount the body in which a laser is formed to a dither suspension mechanism which, in turn, is attached to a case for housing the laser. In one prior art system, the laser body is attached to the dither suspension mechanism by a ring of bolts. Such an arrangement is shown in a copending patent application by McNair and Wirt entitled LASER GYRO DITHER MECHANISM which was filed on Jan. 11, 1980, assigned Ser. No. 06/111,154, with inventors Fred McNair and Thomas M. Wirt, and is assigned to Litton Systems Inc., the assignee of this patent application.
If a ring of bolts is not used, it is common in the art relating to laser technology to utilize an adhesive. However, the bonding of a metallic part, such as a top plate of a dither suspension mechanism, to a nonmetallic body such as a laser body, creates an inherent mismatch of the coefficients of thermal expansion as the ring laser gyro cycles through extreme temperature variations. The forces created by the mismatch of thermal expansion generate stresses within the laser body that cause the degradation of the laser output.
In most situations outside the laser art in which a coupler is required, it is common to use a coupler to isolate a device from vibrations generated within a mounting frame or to isolate a mounting frame upon which the device is mounted from vibrations generated by the device. In these arrangements it is generally desired to transmit low frequency forces, such as a load or a driving force, while isolating high frequency forces, such as those generated by vibration. An example of such a mounting arrangement for isolating high frequency energy while passing low frequency energy may be found in U.S. Pat. No. 2,582,363 by Thiry which issued on Jan. 15, 1952. This mounting arrangement utilizes an incompressible fluid, such as oil, to modify the mounting characteristics of a shock absorber while utilizing rubber as the means for carrying the load.